N.J. Admin. Code § 10:90-3.21

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 11, June 3, 2024

Section 10:90-3.21 - Overpayments and underpayments

(a) Overpayment means a financial assistance payment (including emergency assistance) received by or for an eligible assistance unit for the payment month(s) which exceeds the amount for which that unit was eligible.

1. The county or municipal agency shall seek recovery of all overpayments (including emergency assistance) regardless of fault, including overpayments caused by administrative action or inaction and overpayments resulting from assistance paid pending hearing decisions.

2. Recovery may be accomplished by any of the following methods: securing repayment from the existing income and resources of the adult members of the assistance unit; reducing the cash benefits payable to the assistance unit; or securing repayment through court action, if necessary. For cases which have both an underpayment and overpayment, the county or municipal agency may offset one against the other in correcting the payment.

i. Child-only cases, as defined in 10:90-15.1, are not subject to recovery of overpayments, except in situations where Kinship Subsidy payments have resulted in a duplication of assistance.

3. The amount of the overpayment shall be the amount of assistance (including emergency assistance) received during the period of overpayment less the amount of assistance which should have been received.

i. In the case of an overpayment caused by the client's failure without good cause to report earned income on a timely basis, the amount of the overpayment shall be calculated without benefit of the earned income disregards provided for at 10:90-3.8.

ii. If an eligible assistance unit is overpaid for which the county agency receives child support collections, only that amount of assistance paid in excess of support payments received during the period of overpayment shall be considered for overpayment collection.

4. Liability for overpayment of assistance (including emergency assistance) is established jointly among the adult individual responsible for the overpayment, the overpaid adult members of the eligible assistance unit, the adult individual members of the eligible assistance unit and any eligible assistance unit of which an adult member of the overpaid eligible unit subsequently becomes a member.

5. Upon discovery of an overpayment, the county or municipal agency shall inform the client in writing of the incorrect payment(s), the amount of overpayment and what corrective actions will be taken.

6. Overpayment to an eligible unit which is currently receiving assistance (including adult recipients whose overpayment occurred during a prior period of eligibility) may be repaid in full by the eligible unit or in part wherein the assistance benefit amount may be reduced by 10 percent of the appropriate benefit allowance for the unit size, until recovery is completed.

i. If, on a case by case basis, it is determined that, in the judgment of the county or municipal agency, the 10 percent reduction in the assistance benefit may be detrimental to the well-being of the assistance unit, a lesser rate of recovery shall be established, but not below a minimum rate of five percent.

ii. If the benefit assistance amount is reduced to zero because of recovery, members of the eligible unit will continue to be considered recipients of WFNJ. If the amount payable because of recovery is less than $ 10.00, the WFNJ benefit shall be issued in that lesser amount.

7. When a member of the eligible assistance unit is the individual responsible for the overpayment, the agency shall recover the overpayment from the adult members of that eligible unit.

8. If the individual responsible for the overpayment is no longer receiving assistance, the agency shall initiate court action against the responsible adult individual to recover the overpayment.

i. If despite agency action, recovery is not completed through court action, the agency shall recover the overpayment in accordance with (a)10 below.

9. If the individual responsible for the overpayment is a member of another eligible unit, the agency shall recover the overpayment from the adult members of that unit.

10. In all other circumstances, the priority of recovery of overpayments shall be: the overpaid adult members of the eligible unit; any eligible unit of which an adult member of the overpaid eligible unit subsequently becomes a member; or any adult individual members of the overpaid eligible unit whether or not currently recipients.

11. Overpayment to an assistance unit, all members of which are no longer receiving WFNJ, shall be recovered by the county or municipal agency through a court of appropriate jurisdiction if the adult members of the assistance unit do not voluntarily repay the overpayment.

i. Where the overpayment amount owed by an assistance unit no longer receiving WFNJ is less than $ 100.00, or it is determined that, after reasonable effort to recover the overpayment, it is no longer cost effective to continue recovery efforts, the county or municipal agency may waive recovery of the overpayment. All circumstances concerning a waiver of recovery must be fully documented in the case record.

ii. Recovery of overpayments due to fraud or Intentional Program Violation (IPV) (see N.J.A.C. 10:90-11 ) shall not be waived regardless of the amount of overpayment.

12. The county or municipal agency must take one of the following three actions by the end of the quarter following the quarter in which the overpayment is first identified:

i. Recover the overpayment(s);

ii. Initiate action to locate and/or recover the overpayment(s) from a former adult recipient; or

iii. Execute a recovery agreement from a current adult recipient's grant or income/resources.

13. In all situations of overpayments, the facts and circumstances in each case shall be evaluated and, where indicated, action taken as appropriate in accordance with regulations pertaining to fraudulent receipt of assistance (see N.J.A.C. 10:90-11 ).

(b) Underpayment means a financial assistance payment received by or for an eligible assistance unit for the payment month which is less than the amount for which the unit was eligible, or failure by the county or municipal agency to issue a financial assistance payment for the payment month to an eligible assistance unit if such payment should have been issued. Upon discovery of an underpayment, the county or municipal agency shall determine the amount underpaid and proceed as follows:

1. When underpayment was due to failure of a member of the eligible assistance unit to provide appropriate information, the next regular payment shall reflect the corrected grant amount for that payment period and the amount necessary to correct the payment for the period immediately preceding.

2. When underpayment was due exclusively to administrative error by the agency, corrective payment shall be made, retroactive to the month the administrative error first occurred, within the 12 months immediately preceding the discovery of the underpayment.

i. Such retroactive adjustment shall be made as an additional payment as promptly as possible but in no event later than the time of the next regular payment.

ii. For purposes of determining continuing eligibility or the amount of assistance, retroactive corrective payments shall not be considered as income or resources to the eligible assistance unit either in the month paid or in the following month(s).

(c) No adjustments in the grant other than those recognized in this section are authorized to account for the overpayment or underpayment.

N.J. Admin. Code § 10:90-3.21

Amended by R.1998 d.42, effective 1/20/1998.
See: 29 N.J.R. 3971(b), 30 N.J.R. 389(a).
Inserted references to adults throughout.
Amended by R.2011 d.078, effective 3/7/2011.
See: 42 N.J.R. 2561(b), 43 N.J.R. 630(a).
In (a)2, inserted "any of the following methods:", substituted a semicolon for ", by" following the first occurrence of "assistance unit" and a semicolon for a comma following the second occurrence of "assistance unit", and deleted "by" preceding the second occurrence of "securing"; added (a)2i; and in (a)6ii, substituted the second occurrence of "benefit" for "check".